Unexpected Order

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Adam pushed his food cart into the castle's Great Hall and was taken aback by the crowd gathered there.

What was going on?

"Ah, Adam, you're finally here!"

Taking advantage of his height and knowledge of Adam's route, Cedric quickly spotted Adam, squeezed through the crowd, and walked up to him.

"Wow! You even got a cart?"

The cart's surface only revealed various ingredients and lids of different shapes. Cedric sniffed but couldn't identify any specific aroma, so he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's all this?"

"Delicious food."

Adam teased, looking at the crowd not far away. "What are you all doing?"

"Waiting for you."

"...Waiting for me?"

"Yeah, remember that paper you posted in the common room advertising this?"

Adam hesitated.

"Of course I remember... but are there really this many Hufflepuffs staying at school for Christmas?"

"Some decided not to go home this year after hearing about this, but that's not the point."

Cedric glanced at the crowd; those on the outer edges had already noticed them.

"Seeing so many Hufflepuffs gathered here, students from other houses got curious and joined in. The crowd just kept growing..."

Cedric looked at Adam, who swallowed hard, and shrugged.

"Anyway, I hope you've prepared enough food, because it looks like almost everyone staying at Hogwarts for the holidays is here."

"Ah, this..."

Adam hesitated.

"Enough... probably?"

After all, he could always conjure more. The Twin Card's spirit was already in the cart.

"But isn't it a bit much to have so many people gathered here? It's almost filling the Great Hall, and it's going to affect people just trying to walk through."

He hadn't expected so many people when he decided to set up shop here. Even during the busiest times, the Great Hall wasn't this crowded!

"You have a point... how about the North Tower? The bottom floor used to be a storage room; it's pretty spacious."

Cedric suggested.

"Good!"

"Then hurry up and go ahead. They seem to have noticed us over here. I'll go talk to them..."

Noticing that several Hufflepuffs who knew him were already squeezing their way over from the crowd, Adam quickly levitated the cart and ran, with Cedric heading towards the crowd to buy Adam some time.

By the time Cedric led the crowd to the North Tower, Adam had cleared out a large space on the bottom floor, with huge menus hanging on the surrounding walls.

Adam and his cart were in the center of the space.

"Please line up according to the arrow's directions, one at a time!"

Adam greeted the approaching crowd.

"You can look at the menu while you're in line to decide what you want to buy!"

Those at the front of the line were originally Hufflepuffs who had great faith in Adam's cooking, but after hearing the second half of Adam's sentence, most of them slowed down, intending to look at the menu first.

The flyer in the common room said there would be dozens of new items today.

Cedric was one of those who didn't hesitate, walking straight to Adam's cart.

"I'll take one of everything!"

When you're rich, you can be capricious; no need to choose, he wanted it all!

"One of everything?!"

Adam was stunned, reminding him, "But there are a hundred different things to eat here..."

"A hundred?!"

Cedric was taken aback, looking at the cart in front of him. It didn't look like it could hold that much.

Could it be...

"An Undetectable Extension Charm?"

"I'm just a first-year; how would I know such advanced magic? I just used some storage tricks."

Storage tricks—referring to the Wheel Card. This Clow Card's magic could extend, twist, and piece together space.

Looking at Adam's sincere expression, Cedric no longer doubted him. Maybe it was a shrinking charm or something.

"Then recommend some new items to me. I didn't have breakfast, and I'm about to starve."

"Eastern or Western?"

"Eastern!" If he was trying new things, of course he wanted the newest and most unusual.

"Didn't have breakfast? Then have a bowl of Eight Treasure Rice. For the rest, you can check out that wall over there. It's all new stuff from China. The staples, desserts, and soups are all categorized."

Cedric followed Adam's finger and looked over, trying to pick out a few things that interested him from the dazzling array of dishes:

"Amber Nuts? Dragon Beard Candy? Heart Too Soft? These names sound so special. I'll take one of each."

Experience told him that food from China with strange names often held surprises. But just in case, Cedric ordered two that looked a little more normal:

"And a Mung Bean Cake, and a Sesame Tangyuan."

"Okay, the Heart Too Soft and Eight Treasure Rice should be eaten while they're hot. The Sesame Tangyuan has soup, so be careful not to spill it—"

Adam activated the magic applied to the food cart by the Wheel Card, its internal space extended and spliced together, and quickly packed everything up for Cedric, also including a large cup of Pu-erh Tea to cut the grease.

In fact, the British didn't seem to need anything to cut the grease. The amount of sugar they routinely added to their desserts was, in Adam's eyes, a lethal dose. What he bought were all low-sugar versions for them.

Cedric paid, took the food, and started eating right away, starting with the Amber Nuts, which weren't steaming hot. As he walked, the Hufflepuff student behind him, who hadn't decided yet but also hadn't had breakfast, swallowed hard:

"I'll take the same as Cedric!"

The snack shop's business was booming. Besides Hufflepuff, quite a few people from the other three houses were also attracted, buying a little something to try.

For Adam, that was the goal.

"No wonder the Great Hall was so deserted this morning. Everyone's here enjoying the food."

Adam, who was tidying up the food cart, looked up. Professor Dumbledore was standing in front of the cart with a smile:

"I wonder if I'm too late?"

"Of course not, Professor. What would you like?"

Adam pointed to the menus on both walls.

Professor Dumbledore raised his eyebrows as he looked at the menu on the wall.

Since he wanted to expand the business beyond just a small operation within the school, Adam naturally wouldn't continue to use ingredients from the Hogwarts kitchen, and the pricing was adjusted accordingly to a relatively reasonable level.

Professor Dumbledore had already eaten breakfast before coming, and after ordering three desserts, he sighed:

"I wish I had known about this before I had breakfast."

The air was filled with a sweet fragrance, which was too tempting for him.

Professor Dumbledore took the packed desserts and left. Adam didn't pay much attention to it. After all, Professor Dumbledore wasn't visiting the snack shop for the first time. But he didn't expect Professor Dumbledore to come again so soon.

Professor Dumbledore was holding a bowl of steaming Heart Too Soft in his hand, his face full of happiness:

"I wonder if you would be able to take an order from the school to prepare a Christmas Eve buffet for Hogwarts?"

An order from Hogwarts?!

Just as Adam was still surprised, Professor Dumbledore continued:

"Of course, you may not have prepared so much food, but the Hogwarts kitchen and the House-elves can help you. The price will still be calculated according to your menu."

As he spoke, Professor Dumbledore winked mischievously:

"Anyway, the Board of Governors is paying."